Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom released his May Revision, the updated version of his January budget proposal that reflects newer revenue estimates and sets up the final round of negotiations with the Legislature.
NAMI California is extremely concerned and shocked to see the budget reflect enormous reduction to decades-old, voter approved funding and the elimination of the family voice through the behavioral health system. The proposal includes cuts to the Commission for Behavioral Health’s advocacy infrastructure, shifting of BHSA funds, and upholding the voter’s intent of Proposition 1, and mobile crisis services. We stand ready to work with the Legislature on next steps over the coming weeks to protect critical resources for individuals living with serious mental illness and their families.
Cuts to Commission for Behavioral Health Community Advocacy Structure
The most urgent behavioral health issue in the May Revision is the proposed cut to the Commission for Behavioral Health’s (CBH) community advocacy infrastructure.
The proposal appears to permanently eliminates the Community Advocacy Program, which funds the contracts that allow consumers, families, parents, youth, immigrant and refugee communities, veterans, LGBTQIA+ communities, racial and ethnic communities, and other impacted groups to participate in behavioral health policy, planning, oversight, and implementation.
That is not a minor administrative reduction. It is a cut to the public participation structure that helps make BHSA implementation accountable to the people it is supposed to serve.
This is especially concerning because the Community Advocacy Program is not just another grant program. It is one of the main ways the state operationalizes the principle that behavioral health policy should not be built without consumers, families, and historically underserved communities at the table. It supports advocacy, training, education, outreach, and engagement through trusted organizations that know how to reach communities the formal system often misses.
The timing makes the proposal worse. California is in the middle of implementing Proposition 1 and transitioning from MHSA to BHSA. This is exactly when community engagement should be strengthened, not eliminated. If the state cuts the advocacy contracts now, it weakens the very accountability structure it says it wants to build.
Mobile crisis services at risk
The May Revision maintains the January proposal to make Medi-Cal mobile crisis services a county optional benefit beginning April 1, 2027. That would shift roughly $170 million annually to counties if they want to maintain the benefit.
Making the benefit optional does not eliminate mobile crisis on paper. But it does make the service more vulnerable to local budget pressure. In wealthier or more resourced counties, the service may continue. In counties facing federal cuts, workforce shortages, and rising uninsured care costs, optional can quickly become uneven.
That is the real problem. A psychiatric crisis does not become less urgent because someone lives in a county with a weaker budget.
Our member surveys have consistently shown crisis and emergency services as one of the highest access-to-care priorities. The governor’s mobile crisis proposal moves in the wrong direction unless the final budget includes a realistic funding path for counties to maintain the service statewide.
BHSA funds must be spent as the voters intended, not to backfill General Fund obligations
The May Revision proposes $315.9 million from the Behavioral Health Services Fund for state-directed activities under the Behavioral Health Services Act. It also proposes using $211.9 million from the Behavioral Health Services Fund in lieu of General Fund in 2026-27, with additional amounts in later years, for BH-CONNECT workforce activities.
The administration has clarified that the $211.9 million comes from the state administration portion of BHSA funding, within the 10 percent state-directed share. This suggests the proposal is not directly taking from local county BHSA allocations. We must ensure BHSA funds are being spent as voters intended, not to backfill General Fund obligations.
Population-based prevention sounds useful, but SMI focus cannot get lost
The May Revision includes roughly $174 million for population-based prevention. According to the administration, some of those dollars would support existing state programs aligned with Proposition 1, including harm reduction, education, training, and advocacy.
NAMI-CA members have repeatedly asked that mental health funding prioritize people with serious mental illness, including those who need Full-Service Partnerships, intensive supports, housing, crisis care, and follow-up after hospitalization.
What we are pushing for in negotiations
Our biggest priority in negotiations is the potential cut to advocacy contracts under the Commission on Behavioral Health.
That is the issue that needs to be pulled out of the technical budget language and treated as a major policy decision. If the $6.7 million ongoing reduction eliminates those contracts, then the state is not just trimming an administrative line item. It is cutting the funded infrastructure that allows consumers, families, parents, youth, immigrants and refugees, veterans, LGBTQIA+ communities, racial and ethnic communities, and other impacted groups to participate in behavioral health policy and oversight.
Other issues we’ll be fighting for: Counties need enough funding to handle H.R. 1 impacts beyond eligibility workload. Mobile crisis should remain a statewide expectation, not become a county-by-county optional benefit. Medi-Cal efficiencies should not make care harder to access for people with the highest needs. Housing and homelessness accountability should be paired with enough funding and flexibility to serve people with serious mental illness.
NAMI California will be working with the Legislature in the coming days and weeks to ensure the family voice remains strong as budget negotiations continue and we will call on the families of California to stand up for ourselves and each other through unified advocacy. Be sure that you are signed up for our advocacy alerts. We look forward to working together to keep the NAMI voice strong at the Capitol.